The research at MSU specifically studies how children with varying degrees of autism are able to imitate different movements and actions during play from other people, said Brooke Ingersoll, an assistant professor of psychology.

“There is a lot of evidence that children with autism have difficulty spontaneously imitating play actions and gestures of others,” Ingersoll said. “The research we are doing is a natural intervention that we hope will help improve the areas of language, social engagement and play through imitation interaction.”

The research involves more than 60 children, ages 2 to 4, who are divided into two separate groups for the study. While both groups report to the clinic three times a week during a 10-week period, one group receives treatment while the other does not.

The group that receives treatment spends one hour playing with the researchers inside the clinic, said Nicole Bonter, a research assistant.

“Every minute, we model a new action for the child to do and give them three tries to imitate it,” Bonter said. “If they fail to imitate it, we prompt them into the action and give them positive feedback in return.”

The interactions can involve movements of the body and playing with toys and props inside the clinic. They are based and built upon the child’s play level.

“This type of research is so important because there have been studies like this in the past which have resulted in helping autistic children communicate better,” Bonter said. “There is still a lot to learn about autism, but we are trying to help people whose daily lives are affected by it.”

Daniel Russell, a psychology senior involved in the research, said he has found spending his summer working in the clinic rewarding.

“Working with the kids has taught me a lot so far, and makes me realize how much research still needs to be done on the topic,” Russell said. “This is just a small step in autism research, but I am trying to do anything I can to help.”

The second part of the research involves training siblings of autistic children to interact with them at home in similar ways as the researchers. This part of the study involves different children than the first and teaches the siblings of autistic children to act as a therapist instead of the researcher. This interaction is something Ingersoll said she thinks can help an autistic child improve greatly with verbal and nonverbal communication.

“This can be effective because a child is receiving treatment right at home, and is able to receive more treatment than we are able to offer in the lab,” Bonter said.

While it is too early to see any results, Ingersoll said this type of treatment can lead to a long-term outcome beneficial to both autistic children and their families.